(Temporary pre-made theme while I am too lazy to make a better one myself)

Category Archives: Food

Cooking is something I really enjoy, but with my work schedule (and also laziness) I don’t do it often enough. One of my favorite parts of living with my two best friends back at school was when we would ditch our 8am classes on Friday morning, sleep in, and then make a brunch consisting of everything that happened to be in the refrigerator! We almost always had salsa, so huevos rancheros was a given; sometimes the waffle maker would come out, we’d eat all the fruit and cheese in the fridge, and I would fry up some bacon while our landlord opened the door so it wouldn’t set off the smoke alarm. Tortilla in the fridge? Just warm in the microwave, sprinkle on some salt, roll up, deliver to face!

Needless to say, I miss the good ol’ days.

The nice thing about meeting someone cute is that you start wanting to make food for them – though this may just be the feminine instinct inside me talking (BITCH MAKE ME SOME BIBIMBAP!) Given that I haven’t really had to cook for myself in the past year due to a combination of eating at work and traveling for business, it’s been a difficult but fun task remembering old tricks in the kitchen. One that has mostly been driven by the onset of homesickness for California due to frequent trips to China is the need to add avocado and/or strawberry to EVERYTHING. And I do mean everything:

Really, just an excuse to post a photo of food, because, well, why not?

In this portion of the trip, we explored the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy! We met up with Andrea (a friend from when I studied abroad in Denmark) and his brother, and they took us on a gorgeous hike in the mountains!

Historical charm, delicious food, amazing architecture, and good company – who could ask for more?

Marcel/Fabio (he is having a slight identity crisis) enjoying the sun atop Pietra di Bismantova in his oversized Armani shades!

This is my new favorite quote: “L’amicizia si misura in metri di pizza” – friendship is measured in meters of pizza!

So remember how I promised I’d try and update every day? Yeah, well, screw that! However, now I have decided I will make posts encompassing the explorations of each city, so less random posts, better content (hopefully) – and perhaps they will be more timely as well!

Our trip begins with a journey to the City of Light on the River Seine – a beautiful place none other than Paris!

Additionally, this is Marcel, the travelling hedgehog. He likes food, toadstools, travelling, Armani, and being in photos! You may be seeing quite a bit of him in the next few posts!

Think about the most perfect red velvet cupcake. No really, close your eyes and just imagine it. A moist cupcake (red, of course) with a kiss of chocolate, dressed in dark chocolate ganache if you’re feeling evil, or some cream cheese frosting if you’re feeling fancy. Birthdays are generally fancy occasions, so in this scenario, we will be going with the cream cheese scenario =)

Baking for my friend Tito is a little difficult at times, because I’m never really sure exactly what he likes. I thought about this cake for about a week or so before conceptualizing a final design. These were some things I knew:

1. That one time I made red velvet cake, he housed all the extra tops I cut off to make the layers even. Red velvet – check!
2. That time I made mojito cupcakes, he liked the cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese frosting – check!
3. He absolutely loves cheesecake.

I was debating between making a red velvet cake and a dulce de leche cheesecake and was browsing the Cheesecake Factory website (mostly I was sitting in the machine shop and HUNGRY) when all of a sudden I saw their red velvet and cheesecake layered cake – a match made in heaven! I fell in love. I made the cake. He fell in love (with the cake). It was probably the most delicious cake I had ever made.

And so, I present to you, the red velvet cake with a cheesecake filling, covered in dense cream cheese frosting. You want to eat it. You know it!